Martin Indyk Resigns as US Middle East Envoy

Indyk to return to former role at Brookings Institute - but will still serve as Obama's 'external adviser'.

Ari Soffer, 27/06/14 17:21

Martin Indyk with Sec, or State Kerry (file)

Reuters

The United State's special Middle East envoy Martin Indyk has tendered his resignation, after failing to broker a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Indyk will continue to serve as an external adviser on the "Israeli-Palestinian peace process" to the Obama administration, but will return to his former position at the Brookings Institute, according to a senior Israeli source who was informed of the resignation.

Although a former American ambassador to Israel, Indyk's role as an "honest broker" was viewed critically by many Israelis, due to his position on the executive board of the radical-left New Israel Fund, which notoriously provides funding to numerous anti-Israel NGOs.

More recently, as US Secretary of State John Kerry's ambitious nine-month deadline for a peace deal expired, Indyk was embroiled in further controversy, after being accused of engaging in a "nasty" anti-Israel tirade at a bar following an address to the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

Indyk denied making the comments attributed to him, which reportedly included placing all the blame for the collapse of talks on Israel and exonerating the PA completely.